‘Chowkidar’ Modi would have been in jail if Lokayukta in place in Gujarat: Rahul Gandhi

Rahul Gandhi on Saturday said Narendra Modi would have been in jail had Lokayukta and RTI Commissioners been in place in Gujarat and accused BJP’s PM nominee of distributing huge tracts of land to Adani “for a pittance”.

“There are no Lokayukta and RTI Commissioners here. The High Court here (had) asked it (stat govt) to appoint RTI Commissioners. There should have been 10 (commissioners) but not even five (are) here.

“In other states, there are Lokayuktas but in Gujarat there is no Lokayukta. The authority, which catches the corrupt, is not in place here,” Rahul said addressing a huge rally at Devgadh Baria in Botad town under Bhavnagar Lok Sabha seat.

“The day when Lokayukta comes, the day when RTI commissioners are appointed, your chowkidar (watchman) will go inside (jail),” Rahul said in a frontal attack on the BJP’s PM nominee who often terms himself as a “chowkidar” in poll campaign who will weed out corruption if voter to power.

The appointment of Lokayukta was made in Gujarat after a gap of 10 years in December 2013.

Rahul also hit out at the ‘Gujarat model’ of development, often highlighted by Modi in his campaign, as nothing but “Adani model”.

“Modi gave Rs 45,000 crore worth of land to Adani, which is five times more money than Gujarat’s annual budget for health and education. We believe in helping all kinds of people and businessmen. But Modi believes in telling lies and gifting everything to one person after snatching from others.

This is not Gujarat model, this is Adani model of development,” Rahul said.

The Congress vice-president said Modi had stopped referring to the Gujarat model of late after he “exposed” it.

“After I unearthed the reality of the Gujarat model, Modi stopped boasting about it. Precious land of farmers was gifted to 45,000 acres of land to Adani at the price of a toffee…How much a toffee is worth? just Rs 1…Adani went with 1000 toffees and got 1000 acres. If you try to buy land with toffees, you will be thrown out,” Rahul said.